Suicide Squad - First Arc Review / Discussion

-SuicideSquad-

Suicide Squad, at the very foundation from which all action takes its cues and direction, is smart. The Squad is never given time to rest or recoup. Right, cause why should they? Burn those suckers out. Definition of expendable that whole squad. It keeps everything moving and exciting (or should). The Squad isn’t told all the details of the mission either, they’re just given the gravity of the situation (a city dies or the governments fall, those levels), at which point they bitch they don’t have enough time left on the bombs implanted in their heads to accomplish their goals, to which Waller (their handler) says “better get moving”. How else to motivate them?

Right yeah, all good decisions, and there’s many more (no public face to the Squad another), but what’s build on top of this sound structure is blah. It’s not crap. It’s just enough to get the job done. The action straddles both worn-out and stupid. Prison break-outs, infiltrating secret terrorist bases, zombie stadium. Nothing played with with any real care or fun. They go to a place with four walls and kill things. Each character has one weapon or attack and uses it exclusively. Their enemies are fodder to such a degree it’s inconceivable any member of the Squad could ever be seriously hurt.

That’s blah but it isn’t bad. What’s bad, really fucking atrocious, is El Diablo. He’s the most flat, boring, preachy character imaginable. I am telling you, all people, that it is impossible to construct a worse character. If he does not die soon, he will kill this book. You know the type of person that says the same thing over and over, only changing the order of the words, but always delivering the message with the same level of hammy overbearing? That’s him and he pops up every other panel! Worse! He’s completely unneeded. The “conscience” of the Squad is King Shark. And he did everything El Diablo wants to do in one panel that was striking for how much it said and how easily it conveyed the emotions of a monster character who’s speaking parts have been, thus far, “meat” and laughing (it’s the one where he eats Yo-Yo for no reason, then grabs his head in frustration, shame, defeat at his own nature. Beautiful).

I’m hopeful for the on-going issues of the book though. Again, underlying decisions are smart. And now the Squad is moving away from the generic action pieces. Plus, from the beginning the art has been wonderful. Everyone saves the art for last to talk about as though it were the cherry just to top the rest of the "real" work but I wouldn’t be nearly as confident, nor have lasted this long, without Federico Dallocchio. That one panel of King Shark was pitch perfect, There’s truth to the violence being depicted without ever getting gory or excessive, which keeps the tone of the book lighter. More easy to simply enjoy than pick apart. There have been scenes which made El Diablo seem likable! I’m thinking the Squad will get better. 

Images Copywrite DC Comics

DC New 52 - Comic Discussion / Review

Since these are so late, I've opted for more of a discussion style while still reviewing the books. 

BATMAN # 2

High marks! The titillating ending of last issue is killed off quick though. I don’t think DC is serious about changing much. Ok, new villain, but it’s the same formula of mysterious guy attacks Batman or Bruce Wayne out of the blue --> detective stuff --> fist fight --> mysterious person leaves with much less mystery about them. A new paradigm isn’t even played with. It’s one big page at the end of issue 1 to suggest something then right back to the grind.

Batman again provides full issue musings on Gotham and its history. I dig it. Gotham is a marvelous city. Little convenient that everything that has ever happened there can be traced back to the Wayne family, but Gotham is supposed to always be in turmoil so it works. But it also puts Batman’s actions in some continuum where he is just the latest expression of an old idea rather than the product a radial situation. The mayor outright says so. But I do like it. The city itself seems to be suggesting dark magic while also offering the plausible excuse that bad stuff just happens. The villain is embodying these ideas, though, that I’m not sure need a body. He’s awesome. I’ll be clear. He’s what I want in a villain: keeps his mystery, prepared, great theme, actually manages to hurt the hero, looks amazing in everything he does. Especially that last reason. I don’t want posing but if by accident, as a by-product of you doing your thing, I wish to high-five you, that’s completely acceptable. But back to my point, I don’t want Gotham to happen to be the site of some ancient ritual that is the source of all evil (the physical manifestation of) on Earth. I’m much more interested in the questions of “is Batman fighting human nature itself? Is an end possible? Is humanity its own enemy? Is the human mind unraveling under the pressures of its own advancement?”. A face on all that just says “no, there’s just some jerk, the world is literally black and white”.

An enjoyable Batman story. Doesn’t seem to be stretching for anything.

RedHood #2

Oh Jason Todd. You aren’t doing what I’d like and with people I don’t care for but I have to know what you’re doing. Issue two is another mixed bag for me.

I was curious why and how these three people got together. I'm not suggesting these characters are all loners so would never team up with anybody, they’ve all been on a team of some sort, but how did they meet? Why did Red Hood break Arsenal out of prison? Arsenal provides as good an answer as we're likely to get with “what else would we be doing?”. Hmm… That’s not a terrible strong reason. Issue one had these three just together and I don’t think the writer (Scott Lobdell) really cares why. I get nervous when a writer disregards reasoning for their stories. It makes caring about them difficult.

Mr. Roy Harper does not impress. He dresses poorly and says generic or dumb things. Honestly, I think it would help the character a lot if he were to be maimed horribly. Give that drifter something to focus on, toughen him up a bit. I don’t want to read about someone who isn’t special floating around doing not special things.

Kori, Ms. Alien Princess Starfair, is just attractive baggage. Credit to artist Kenneth Rocafort for his fashion sense (two links for him! Get an official site bro). But Starfire is getting full page spreads to look good and that’s it. She physically follows the two males around, adding some green light to fight scenes, and making lame sexual innuendos. This isn’t just a complaint about how “women need better representation in comics”, it’s also “there’s an incredible powerful alien not doing anything or being the least bit interesting”.

So why read this? Because Jason Todd, resurrected- ex- side-kick of Batman, jet sets around the world with Talia al Ghul, daughter of the (Demon’s) Head of the League of Assassins, training to become… Actually I don’t know what. He’s never said he wants to be “the best”, nor has he identified a goal (like Kill Batman) that would give a reason for all this training. Maybe it’s a habit for people like him to learn new ways to kill people. It’s a problem with the narrative that there’s no reason for anything that’s happening. Fat Lady (Suzie Sue) surprises Jason in his safe house, highlighting his lesson that nowhere should be considered safe, then gets killed. Cool! Apparently there’s some history between the two (I’ve read all Red Hood stories, never heard of her before this). Why was she there? What purpose of the story does she serve? I already knew Jason kills people, does it well, with guns… Maybe her father will come after Jason later, and they’ll be a good story there, and I’ll applaud in hindsight for the writer creating a narrative that stretches beyond a few issues, but right now I feel “stuff” is just getting thrown around. Nothing is tying the characters together, and the closest thing given as a goal (or quest) is a mysterious girl (also not in any previous Red Hood stories) who points out some mysterious entity that killed some unknown people Red Hood likes for reasons he doesn't relate to the reader. Man, I'm down for mystery but I need a thread to hold onto. Let me know where Jason is mentally. More than "safe houses shouldn't be considered safe". Or give me a mystery to care about. Supermonks being killed by a villain isn't worth my time. 

Congratulations on creating a not cliché martial arts master to train Jason! Well, besides being an unassuming old lady. Don’t know if modern day teen persona was the right direction. That was odd. It’s cool to play around though. Jason’s flight wings were the embodiment of his baller status and I’m sure the electricity flicking around them is totally backed up by actual science showing his “wings” would function. But, um, why does Red Hood care about these people who trained him? Maybe this clean slate (new 52) isn’t working in Red Hood’s favor. The writer is trying a new direction but not connecting to his past, which is where I’m getting mixed signals. That especially makes sense with the “don’t effing mention B-Man” chat the outlaws have. Real shame. Jason Todd is fun but divorced from any history, he isn’t as interesting to me.

Whilst searching for some online presence to link to for Scott Lobdell (he gave it all up apparently, s'why I opted for the Wiki entry), I found a Q&A he did regarding Red Hood and the Outlaws. He's thinking about issues more than is being let on in the actual issues.

Power Dynamics, i.e. Starfire

Red Hood and Starfire's relationship, and a bit of where the series is going

The Series Is Going Somewhere, and Defense of Starfire as a Woman.

JUSTICELEAGUE #2

There’s a calm, sensible approach to story-telling going on here. Instead of instantly teaming up, the heroes are feeling each other out. That type of methodical story-telling works well for the dialogue scenes, as just standing around some old printing press talking kept my engaged, assuming the point of view of each character in turn and checking the scene out with new eyes. Yeah, the characters are more than just some multicolored parade of exposition and punching. What makes Green Lantern meeting Batman a worthwhile event to see if how their personalities match up. I think that’s the fan dream, not the “oh GL would make chains and Batman would throw baterrangs!”. Cool cool in this regard.

The fighting loses all sense of urgency though. It’s obvious each hero is waiting their turn to attack so readers can judge relative power levels. It’s not the crazy melee one would expect from three super-powered people slamming into each other for the first time. Everyone is showcasing their signature moves, and it actual flows like a turn-based game. Batman uses gadgets (pass turn), Superman does a flying tackle (pass turn), Batman ect. It’s not a fun time now but I’m happy to see the attention to detail and thoughtfulness of it. When the League does form, I just hope the pace of these pick up while keeping the higher thought level.

Dialogue was a letdown in most of this issue. Everyone is so blunt. ‘Dad, I want you to watch me play football’ ‘That’s not important to me, son’.Really difficult to care about characters with no personality. It’s as though the story is all broad strokes and the details don’t matter. A lot of comics function that way. Take any series and just describe what happens in the course of a year and it sounds amazing. Actually reading it doesn’t have nearly the same impact. Play to genre strengths. What other form of storytelling gives a new short story every month and lasts for years? Make the moments matter.

I’ll just note here, too, that any new dynamic idea for the status quo isn’t even teased for issue three. It’s only two issue so I won’t say “DC lied about everything”, but it is shocking how the end of the first issue says “new things!” and issue two ends with “remember this guy?”. The characters themselves are richer, the situations they are in are not.

SUICIDESQUAD #2

Hey, remember how the premise of this series was “crazy villains being forced to work together for good (sorta)”? How the inherent conflict but also tension for that is deeply compelling? Issue two is “we’re all a team now and really polite to each other”. “Hey Harley, please tell me about your past. I’d like to help you work through your problems”. Deadshot is the de facto leader, probably on account of his sane and charming narration. There’s no power struggle? Not even with the blood crazed shark!? That guy’s cool with everything!? Everyone in the DC universe finds teamwork so natural. Can the villains at least not be slaves to order? Don’t make the whole universe predictable in under ten issues…

Somebody made a zombie plague (that’s what happens). Is this a violent comedy book? I guess we’re not taking this seriously. But I’m supposed to care about the characters history and their future development? Things aren’t jiving here. SUPER! One of them developed an obnoxious sense of morality. Oh and he won’t shut-up? Perfect. Keep telling me how killing things is bad even though that's your job and also only way to survive. I didn't know. Voltic and Black Spider, my numbers two and three for likeable characters, promise something to watch: rivalry. Oh wait one of them dies! And with them another reason to keep reading this series.

The ending takes a page from every military action movie ever created. Are we just working through popular movies of the decades? How can the same writer create a solid first issue concept, then spit out cliché nonsense the very next month?

New 52 Batch 2 - Comics Review

GREENLANTERN #1

Half of this book tells a story I like, the other is some outdated nonsense. Green Lantern opens with Sinestro accepting a green ring(!). I don’t know half of Sinestro’s full story but I know he used to be a badguy and disagreed with everything the Guardians did. Maybe I’m just a sucker for any “big changes”, Sinestro did very little this issue, but I’m digging the feel here. . A pissed-off, very powerful, calculating, mean s-o-b who is given power by a group he detests to protect a place he enslaved the last time around. The guy is going to do whatever he wants and I’m on board with that. There’s load of conflict here that I want to see play out. Sinestro is my ideal Lantern because he will actual change the universe to get what he wants. Not just run around putting out fires with a cute green hose. He’s serious. Though I guess he could play it straight, but with such a loaded conflict, why waste that? This is exciting.

Then Hal Jordan comes along. The way he’s written here, he belongs with Brenda Starr in the Sunday comics. . Every other word is bold and italics. Very irritating and dated. Some boring, dopey, soap opera horseshit going on. . He’s whining about the difficulty adjusting to life on Earth after having saved the whole universe and nobody understands him. … “Did you not just see Sinestro doing work a few pages ago?” I’d be fine with Jordan dying and the book being solely about Sinestro. Jordan is too boring for me to care about. What he does I’ve seen better and before. Teen Hal can’t get a car or pay his rent, and bounces around, hitting all the loser lowpoints. Why should I sympathize with such a dope? I thought he was supposed to be fearless? Only while flying a plane apparently.

 The art doesn’t do him any favors either, the panel where he’s lying on some charming smile is downright grotesque. It alternates from passable, generic comic book fair, to bad.

The strength of Sinestro as a character might have been enough to keep me going on this book, but with a focus on Jordan, and better books calling to me, I doubt I’ll check this out again.

REDHOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1

I went back and forth throughout this whole issue. The opening action scene isn’t thrilling conceptually (a prison break. Are there any mercenaries in DC that can stand up to a hero?), but there are some details, such as Red Hood’s disguise, that made me smile. And to be fully up front, I love the Jason Todd / Red Hood character. What he did in Under The Red Hood (both comic and movie) and Battle For The Cowl made me a very big fan. He takes a situation that’s going a bit stale and blasts life into it. The debates he had with Batman won me over completely. He’s hilarious in his taunts, clever in those and planning both, and caps it off with an overall aesthetic I love seeing in every panel. Red Hood isn’t good or bad, he’s coming at this playing field from a new angle altogether. That’s exciting. Though I’m sorry to see him leave Gotham. Especially for no discernible reason. Besides “get Arsenal”, this issue did very little.

Arsenal isn’t anything like Jason Todd. I don’t know anything about him except for what this issue set-up. He wasn’t anything special. A regular dude who used a bow. Jason Todd called him an idiot. I’ll believe Jason.

Starfire / Kori has gotten a lot of attention from seemingly everybody (comic readers and not). I wasn’t sure how to read her. She starts off really into Jason, almost like a school-girl, then switches to the cold “nobody controls me” by the next scene. I like that she’s an alien. Aliens trying to fit into Earth society usually raise interesting questions as what’s taken for granted isn’t by them. They can expose taboos or play with human society in fun or insightful ways. I’m not sure if that’s what she’s doing here. Comics haven’t historically been kind to women, at all, so I’m not sure if Starfire is exploring the concept of sex or just being a cheap fan service tool. She certainly has the backstory to become compelling. Princess betrayed by her sister, sold as slave to prevent war. But here she just throws her body around for a splash page or sex.

The set-up for next issue nailed cliché hard. A group of, thought to be, unbeatable monks who live in a hidden mountain monetary are mysteriously killed. Why does the Red Hood care at all about them? Why does he care about Arsenal or Starfire? Why are they together? How did Jason get over Gotham? These aren’t questions the book raises to make me interested in further reading to find out, these I see as fundamental problems of the narrative. If I do look into issue 2, it’ll be a statement to how much I love Jason Todd, not having much to do with the quality of this first issue.

LEGION LOST #1

Every single aspect of this was a gross travesty. Art - Terrible. Characters, none of whom I know anything about, told me nothing in the entire issue. Powers were barely shown and presented nothing of note. The dialogue was by far the worst part. It was the most laughable excuse of exposition. All of it was interchangeable between the characters. The same dated misuse of bold and italics prevalent here as well. The villain is a joke who rails against THE WORLD, and vows to make EVERYONE PAY. Mid-way through I wanted to close it.

I bought this without checking into it at all because I thought Fabien Nicieza was King Shit. The work he did on Cable& Deadpool was profound. I’m not just talking an issue or two. The whole run was brilliant. I’d hold it up as beautiful story-telling comparable to any in any other form. I thought to run a series as well as that means the guy knows his business and can be counted on. Won’t make that mistake again.

SUICIDE SQUAD #1

I come from reading and liking Warren Ellis’s work on Thunderbolts, so I’ll call this the standard set-up for a villain-pressed-into-squad type of book. Tiny, unremovable bombs, placed on the team to ensure cooperation. Given the sure-to-be-persuasive-choice of rot for all time in jail or work for people you hate doing what you’re good at. I’m not sure there aren’t a few holes there that couldn’t be patched with some more thought dedicated to inventing a better situation. Workable though.

The book opens to all the members being tortured, with the presumption that they slipped up on their first assignment. Pretty inventive opening, and it turns into a solid creative choice to showcase the characters. At first I was a bit worried for the team as Deadshot (my boy) didn’t seem to be handling things so well. As we take a turn around the circle though, we see that torturing psychotics plays to their strength. These people get the shit kicked out of them regularly. So it’s a lot of fun seeing them take control of the situation. It’s showing me the writer isn’t going to treat this like a hero team-up book. The characters involved are fundamentally different here. That’s going to allow for what makes a book of this type to truly capitalize on the concept; the possibility for anything to happen.

I don’t understand the set-up for next issue. It struck me as over-the-top for the sake of being over-the-top. I’m not anxious to see where this goes but this issue was good, so if I can get more of that, have something develop, I’ll be happy with that.

THE DARK KNIGHT #1

Tough break for this book to feature yet another break-out from Arkham along with another issue-long speech from Bruce Wayne. At this point I just wanted to know how this book was different from the others. It’s better than Detective Comics and worse than Batman is really the only answer I got. The dialogue is instantly forgettable with the exception of the rallying speech Batman delivers to some cops who are about to storm Arkham, but were told not to (for some reason… There’s a lot of cops there though...), but decided to do it anyway… Yeah, it’s trying to nail “tough guys who make the tough calls” without paying attention to reason. Anyway, Batman doesn’t rally anybody. This was wildly out of character. He doesn’t stand on top of a cop car, remind them all about families then charge in.  Plus, like I said, all these guys were about to kick down the front door anyway. It was all needless posturing.

Action didn’t do a single thing unique with Batman. He kicked a guy and head-butted another.  The End.

The ending left me exasperated. This route again? Also, villains calling out their name as some 

introduction doesn’t belong in a modern comic. Good news is there is only one good Batman comic to keep up with, and, how easy, it’s called Batman. 

DECTECTIVE COMICS #1

This issue was offensively bad. We’re given some really shitty old-school dialogue (“And Gotham is a hell hole, always has been, always will be” “Like hell it will”). Coupled with action that doesn’t need to occur and is just going through the motions for all involved. Nothing new and not done well. I’ll give credit to the team for an inviting ending hook but I don’t trust them to do anything with it.

All images Copyright DC Comics